News

July 2015 - Micrometric

The geography of Lincolnshire, sometimes known as Bomber County, has made it an ideal location for military airfields, and during WW2 it was the epicentre of Bomber Command with numerous airfields being sited in Lincolnshire. Micrometric, based in Lincoln, is extremely proud to have been chosen to provide precision laser cutting for the Spire Memorial which will be sited on Canwick Hill on the outskirts of Lincoln to commemorate the fallen aircrew who fought and died from the airfields around Lincoln.

Surrounding the Spire Memorial will be 120 plates on the curved memorial walls, which are to carry the names of the 25,611 men who flew and died from airfields around Lincoln. In total there were 55,573 lives lost from Bomber Command, with 28% of them coming from countries outside the UK. The plates are to be made from “CorTen A”, a type of steel designed to weather over time and provide a rusted appearance. Each plate is 4 mm thick and will take around 6 hours of laser cutting time on the machines at Micrometric. Laser cutting is a precise method of cutting through metals and other materials with low heat input and a fine cutting line, using a machine capable of handling large sheet sizes and cutting through over 12 mm thickness of material.

In total there will be more than 250,000 letters cut out by laser – the plates are produced in flat material for laser cutting, they are then sent to another local company, Hindles of Lincoln, for deburring and bending to the correct curvature to allow them to be mounted onto the walls.

The Spire Memorial, which has the same height as the wingspan of the Avro Lancaster bomber (102 feet or 31.09 m), is part of the overall International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) which is due to open in 2016 at Canwick Hill. Created in 1936, the RAF Bomber Command served the country until 1968. More than 125,000 served from all over the British Commonwealth. The centre on Canwick Hill will be known as the Chadwick Centre, named after Roy Chadwick, the designer of the famous Lancaster aircraft. On 2 October 2015, the Spire Memorial will be officially unveiled.

Image 2 – The laser cutting machine in action

Micrometric, being a local manufacturer with expertise in precision cutting and welding of metals, is very proud to have been chosen to play an important part in this project to honour the heroes that fought and lost their lives to preserve our freedom. Contact Micrometric for any subcontract laser processing requirements via our contact page.

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Micrometric provide a sub contract laser manufacturing service to a wide range of business sectors, supplying anything from watch to tractor parts, from prototype to volume production. This activity is supported by a conventional CNC machining, wire EDM, small press and scanning capabilty.